


They Don't Talk

by justsleepwalkin



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Explicit Language, M/M, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-30
Updated: 2011-12-30
Packaged: 2017-10-28 12:10:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/307738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justsleepwalkin/pseuds/justsleepwalkin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes you just have to stop running.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They Don't Talk

**Author's Note:**

> Liberties taken with the Shadow Realm and the Gate.

There was something in how they sat that warned people away from them. Arms folded on the back of a bench, not looking at each other, and both glaring at those who passed them by, strange looks on their faces as they saw the bandages that covered the two, touched with specks of blood.

They were _not talking about this_. Their light halves were raging in both their minds, demanding even just a bit of freedom (which even Yami no Yuugi didn’t want to relinquish right now; perhaps he had been spending too much time with the thief). No. Not talking about it at all, they would shut up, sulk, and sulk some more, and most _certainly_ not spare one another a single glance.

“Um… are you boys –” one person finally tried to ask, approaching the bench a bit warily, and with good reason.

“Fuck off,” Yami no Bakura barked, and the person was gone, just like that. “This is all your fucking fault,” he snapped, finally turning a glare to the one besides him. Whether it was that one person that broke their spell of silence or that he felt he needed to shout over Ryou’s still-constant demands, it was unclear. The only thing clear at that moment was that they were, at long last, speaking.

If arguing fell under the category of ‘speaking’ anyway.

“It isn’t. You overreacted. You brought us there. In fact, I’d quite imagine that the whole thing was – _oh_ , you know – _your fault_ ,” Yami no Yuugi bit back, only he hadn’t cast his crimson gaze at all towards the thief. It wasn’t worth it. He had better things to be doing or something like that, he thought. Only if he truly had better things to do, he would have gotten up and _left_.

“ _Don’t_ go shafting the blame!”

“You started it,” his answer was dull. Bored. He even yawned.

“Screw this.”

Apparently, Yami no Yuugi realized, the other _did_ have better things to do, since he stood up with a growl and began to walk away. He rose his head and suddenly looked at the thief, who really was a bit worse for wear, and Yami no Yuugi wasn’t sure where the blame actually rest. Yuugi fell quiet in his corner of their mind, maybe because he thought they were free of the other. But…

“Where the hell are you going?” Yami no Yuugi yelled after him, not budging. Oh no, he was _not_ going to chase after him. _No_. “Getting yourself into more trouble?”

“’scuse me, but I actually need you to cause that trouble. I stay around you much longer and I’ll end up with more than just a body full of cuts.”

Yami no Yuugi cringed. It figured, making him seem like the bad guy, again. Those roles were supposed to be reversed. Dammit. He really didn’t… He really _shouldn’t_ …

“I _did_ help get us back out of that trouble,” he said, but the other was too far off to hear him now, walking down a stone path of the local park. The pharaoh grunted, sighed, and finally got up from the bench, walking at a reasonable pace a ways from the other. He’d catch up in due time, unless the thief bolted. Yami no Yuugi wasn’t in the mood to do much running.

He doubted Yami no Bakura was either.

“Quit following me!” the thief yelled back, glaring over his shoulder a moment later.

“I was saying I got you out of that trouble earlier, too, you know,” he said idly.

“So why the fuck would you want to get me out of _more_ of it, _Pharaoh_?”

They were earning more looks from those in the area. Not just from the bandages now, but probably Yami no Bakura’s language and, well, his use of ‘Pharaoh’ always managed to pull them a gaze or two. Although with that oh-so-lovely sarcastic tone, no one probably gave it much thought.

Still, Yami no Yuugi gave pause – or more like, abruptly halted. He hated the fact that he might’ve possibly cared. Yuugi hated the fact that he might even give two cents to caring. This wasn’t either of their territories, but Yuugi was noticing – and he made it quite clear (my how he had grown) – that it was very obvious how much more he had been gravitating towards the thief.

He only made these problems clear after a journey to the Shadow Realm that had, to say the least, gone quite badly.

Why they had gone, he couldn’t remember.

Who had gone first?

Yuugi told him after a few grumbles that they had gone, sensing some disturbance, and finding Ryou and Yami no Bakura both separate and nearly dead.

And Yuugi was very angry that they almost became the same.

But outside the realm! Outside they were peachy perfect! Minus a few cuts and bruises. Yuugi really didn’t have to whine so much.

Yami no Yuugi unfroze himself and ran. Ran to catch up to the thief, not caring that he cared. A lot.“Why were you there?” he asked, staring with a curious – and openly worried – gaze.

The thief glared at him and turned his head away.

“Come on, I saved you. You owe me.”

“I don’t owe you a damn thing, Pharaoh.”

“Bakura.”

“ _What_? Fuck off. I’m sure your weaker half cares for some freedom.”

“I’m sure _yours_ does.”

“He’s _resting_ ,” Yami no Bakura insisted. He was growing more annoyed as the seconds passed by.

“Yeah well, if he’s resting, then you can talk to me.”

“Why on earth would I ever _willingly_ talk to you, Pharaoh?”

“Because there’s no one else.”

Yami no Bakura stared at him sharply, stopped walking for a brief second, then tried to resume his composure. His eyes took in the sky above, and quite harshly, he bit out, “I was trying to go home.”

It was Yami no Yuugi’s turn to be surprised. “What? Why?”

“ _Oh_ , don’t sound like that, Pharaoh. Just because you got sick of reliving life in Egypt doesn’t mean anyone else would.”

(But your people are all dead. I’m sorry, but they are. I can’t bring them back. I couldn’t. I didn’t know. It wasn’t my fault. Why would you go back? Why would you want to? What’s there for you now? _Why would you leave me here?_ )

Yami no Yuugi bristled. He was glad the other didn’t get sealed into the Sennen Key. The last thing he needed was the thief breaking into his mind and shoveling through the pile of thoughts that his pharaoh shouldn’t be having, shouldn’t even be _remotely having_.

Yuugi agreed.

“But it didn’t work,” Yami no Yuugi stated.

“No shit, Sherlock. It didn’t fucking work.”

“Do you –” want help. He couldn’t ask that question. He should; he may be able to open up the path to those old times again. Let Yami no Bakura go back himself. But then _who would be left_. He said that there was no one else. Yes, they both had their lights. But that was hardly enough anymore. It was enough for Yami no Yuugi – he _came back_ after a year or two. He came back and so many people were gone. Those unbreakable friends were off in different colleges, or Anzu, who had made it to New York City in the states. Sure, they kept in touch by email… but only Yuugi, Ryou, and Seto Kaiba remained in Domino City.

Yami no Yuugi ignored Kaiba as much as he could. They only dueled every now and then.

And by every now and then he meant every few months. Keep their skills fresh. But he was still Yugioh. Still the King of Games. And Kaiba still lost. Although, he didn’t get as angry when he lost now, thankfully.

If Yami no Bakura went _back_ , all he would have to look forward to is a game every few months. There’d be Yuugi, but there’d always be Yuugi. That wouldn’t be enough.

“I’m sorry,” Yami no Yuugi stopped again, and bowed his head, quite ashamed with himself. He heard Yami no Bakura’s shoes scrape against the ground as he turned around suddenly.

“ _What_?”

“I’m sorry,” he said again, quietly.

“The hell are you _sorry_ for?” The pharaoh was apologizing. Why the fuck was he apologizing? To him, no less?

“… I can’t help you. No, I…” Yami no Yuugi frowned. Boy, wasn’t this a fun confession. Maybe he should let Yuugi win out finally and give him control. At least then he could act like it wasn’t on purpose. Only, Yuugi had finally gone quiet. Great timing. “I _won’t_ help you.”

“As if I would _ask_. Don’t make yourself seem special. You’d probably fuck it up anyway.”

“ _Bakura_ ,” he ground out in response, then shook his head, frustrated. He didn’t care if Yuugi felt like sitting back right now. He relinquished his hold on their body and slid back into the puzzle, leaving behind a fairly confused Yuugi Motou to blink at the other.

“Uh, I… don’t actually know what that was about…” Yuugi laughed uneasily.

Yami no Bakura stared at him with wild russet eyes, then approached, much closer than Yuugi would have liked, and glowered down at him. “Brat, what the hell is going on with him?”

“I don’t know.”

“You _share_ his _mind_.”

“Do you let Ryou know everything in your mind?”

“Hell no!”

“See.”

“But it’s the _pharaoh_.”

“Yeah, well,” Yuugi shrugged, “this pharaoh has secrets, too.”

Yami no Bakura scowled.

“I’m going home. I need a nap. See ya.” He left.

 

 

Yami no Bakura didn’t manage to grace the pharaoh’s presence for a week, and after that week, he _still_ had nothing. Ryou, thankfully, had control of their body for most of that time. They were getting along, but only because neither of them spoke to the other.

He wanted to go back to Egypt because it’d be a change of pace. He’d been here for _far too long_ ; he was sure he could survive Egypt again for, oh, _much longer_. But it didn’t work that way. In the end, after he managed to separate with Ryou, the ring scratched up, both were far too injured.

And the dumbass pharaoh pulled the stupid sort of card, as if to say “I could help you, but I’m not.” What was that about? And why run away? Yuugi would have been cheering victoriously if he had actually been trying to take over again.

Then there was the comment that caught him so off guard – almost as much as the _apology_ – that made Yami no Bakura almost skid to a complete halt because of so utterly _true_ it was.

_“Because there’s no one else.”_

Not that Yami no Bakura _needed_ anyone else. Not even Malik or his long-gone psychotic other self mattered. He didn’t care that they were off in modern-day Egypt with Isis and the ever-present, ever-loyal servant. The Ishtars were boring, anyway. They didn’t give that small spark of entertainment that made –

Tch.

–That made _him_ different.

As if he’d ever admit to that.

Yet he did finally run into _that small spark_ several days later – making it two weeks since they last interacted. Or he hunted him down. Yes, he hunted him down. It was the pharaoh he had found, looking bored as though he had been forced to be out. He stood at the back of an arcade (after all, what else would the King of Games find for himself?), pulling at the lever of a Duel Monsters pinball game, barely paying much attention to it, staring down at it but not really there, and yet his score still showed that he was doing damn well.

Yami no Bakura was nearly right behind him then, and there was little twitch from the other to show he was aware of such. So, he said sharply, “Pharaoh,” and looked annoyed (although he should have been triumphant) when the other pulled the lever again and managed to snap it on himself in surprise. He tried to then hide his cringe from the sting, only to realize afterwards that the metal ball wandered wayward and was eaten by a Blue Eyes White Dragon.

His life points dropped, seemingly for the first time.

“ _What_?” he snapped, turning a narrowed gaze in the thief’s direction.

Yami no Bakura rolled his eyes and shrugged, causing the pharaoh to scowl.

“Tch, what’s wrong with you? Getting caught off guard like that,” the thief nodded down at the other’s hand, where it was slightly red from the slip-up. His voice was even, leaning towards a mocking side and away from an actual caring one. He didn’t care. He never cared. “You must be losing your touch, Pharaoh.”

“I’m fine,” he grumbled back.

“Oh, I can see that.” He didn’t look fine. Didn’t Yami no Yuugi realize that the people left were the people who knew him the most? His other half, his long-time enemy, and his rival. Yami no Bakura scowled and folded his arms across his teal overcoat. “Don’t go trying to make me look like an idiot.”

“I’m n –” the pharaoh stopped, shook his head, and returned to ‘focusing’ on his game.

Yami no Bakura leaned on the wall besides it and watched.

“Why are you here?” Yami no Yuugi asked. The sounds of only the pinball game were beginning to weigh down on his resolve.

Because there’s no one else. Because there’s nowhere else. “I’m bored,” he answered. “There’s nothing to do.” And he couldn’t go home. He saw Yami no Yuugi frown, maybe sharing the same idea.

“That’s not my problem.”

“It is now.”

 _Snap_ of the wrist, the metal ball went rolling, bounced, avoided the Blue Eyes, and fell over a trap card hole. Yami no Yuugi shot a glare towards the other, who was now grinning.

“Looks like you’re starting to lose, oh-King-of-Games.” Yami no Bakura tilted his head up in amusement. “Getting distracted?” He didn’t want to think that that was a bad thing in itself. The pharaoh didn’t do distractions. They weren’t supposed to go hand-in-hand. That was the damn mutt, wherever the hell he and his partner-in-crime got to.

“No.”

“Seems like you are.”

Yami no Yuugi slammed his hands atop the glass, causing it to resound. His gaze was boiling as he looked hard at the thief, almost like old times, but there was something different about him. Something that he probably wouldn’t talk about. Yami no Bakura tried not to look startled.

“What the hell do you want from me, Bakura?”

Well, that was certainly interesting. He wouldn’t have guessed he would draw that sort of reaction.

“Nothing.”

“Then _go away_.”

Yami no Bakura narrowed his eyes in a challenge. Something was very wrong.

“No.”

“Why the fuck not?!”

“What’s wrong with you?” he demanded. Who cares if it was out of character of him; the pharaoh was the one who slipped first.

“ _Nothing_.”

“Bullshit!”

“Why do you _care_?!” He slid his hands from the glass and clenched them into fists at his side. “It has nothing to do with you, anyway!” Something in his eyes though…

Russet eyes widened a fraction. “It does, doesn’t it?” Yami no Bakura stepped forward and seized the lapels of the other’s jacket, growling, voice dangerously low, and almost – _almost_ – sympathetic. “What did you do?”

“Let go,” he warned.

“Why don’t you make me, Pharaoh? Or will you have trouble doing that, too?” His eyes were searching. Trying to find the problem. What was it? What was wrong? It shouldn’t be this hard to notice… The pharaoh could be an open book nowadays, just like Yuugi use to –

Any color in Yami no Bakura’s usual pale face was gone. Ryou stirred from the sudden sense of dread that overtook them. He threw the pharaoh away from him, watching as he caught himself and straightened, but wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Where the hell is Yuugi?” he tried to ask as carefully as possible.

“That’s…” he hesitated.

Yami no Bakura never really cared little for the brat, but he was _not here_ ; all he sensed was the pharaoh. There was no one else. _That was what was wrong_.

“ _Well_?”

“He…”

“ _Pharaoh_!”

Yami no Yuugi just hung his head, and so the thief approached him again. He had to get an answer. Didn’t he realize how serious this was? Why the heck was he hiding the truth? And if it had to do with the thief himself… then dammit, he deserved to know! “Atemu,” Yami no Bakura prompted more softly.

“…Egypt,” Yami no Yuugi said at last. “He’s in Egypt.”

“… With Malik?” _Please say yes._

“No.” Crimson eyes rose to meet russet. He was still off guard, for more than one reason. “In the past.”

“And _why_ would he, of all people, be there?” Like speaking to a child.

“Because I messed up.”

“What did you do.” He expected the other to look away again, but the pharaoh didn’t, and continued to stare at him with sad eyes.

“I tried to open up the gate to the underworld and see if I could hold it open without going through, but it took Yuugi, and then closed up.”

“When was this?”

“Two days ago.”

“And why the hell are you playing pinball in the arcade then?!”

Crimson eyes narrowed. “Because my magic is still completely drained, dumbass.”

Yami no Bakura grabbed him again, hands wrapped around his shoulders as he shook him angrily. “Then why didn’t you come ask for help, _dumbass_?!”

“Why would you help me?” Yami no Yuugi drawled.

“Because you _asked_!”

They stared at each other in silence and surprise, anger drifting around them. The arcade had been quiet before, aside from the sounds from the games, but now it was nearly empty. The pair had a way with clearing out a room. “You were trying to get into the underworld. Why?”

“… Because you wanted to go,” Yami no Yuugi answered with a defeated sigh.

Yami no Bakura burst out with laughter. Oh, that was hilarious. Absolutely wonderful. “You wanted to get rid of me.”

“ _No_!” he snapped in return, with surprising fervor. “Dammit, I was trying to not be selfish! If it made you happy, then…” he said the last part quietly. “Then… I shouldn’t try to keep you from it…” Yami no Bakura was just _staring_ at him, expressionless. It was Yami no Yuugi’s time to start laughing. “Yes, I know, priceless, right? There you have it, then.”

“After you rest a bit more,” the thief chose his words carefully, “between the two of us, we can draw Yuugi out.”

“And trade him with you?”

“We’ll cross that bridge another time,” he bit out in response. Something in his eyes revealed that they needed to drop the subject, now. Yami no Bakura suddenly wanted to avoid it as much as possible. He was not thinking of the great and powerful Pharaoh, the King of Games, turning into the King of Loneliness. They couldn’t be relying on one another.

They couldn’t.

 

Yami no Yuugi had recovered the majority of his magic after resting in an actual bed (the thief insisted playing pinball was no way to recover, and it probably wasn’t much helping in distracting him from the utter _silence_ in his mind as the pharaoh hoped it would). When he woke and stumbled down the stairs, he found Ryou dozing on the couch, arm hanging over the side as he lay awkwardly. Not wanting to wake the boy, Yami no Yuugi returned upstairs, showered, and when he came back down, Ryou was awake.

“Feeling better, then? You were out for quite awhile.”

“Was I? Sorry. Hope you weren’t here the whole time.”

“Nah. I went out and got a bite to eat and checked in on some things. Whatever kept Bakura from worrying.” Ryou grinned.

“Really.”

Ryou went to speak, getting as far as opening his mouth soundlessly when Yami no Bakura took control. He sat on the couch with an annoyed expression, mumbling something off to the side that sounded distinctly like ‘I wasn’t worried.’ Yami no Yuugi smirked, and the thief’s annoyance grew.

“You still going to help me?”

“Yeah,” Yami no Bakura agreed with a nod. “For a pharaoh, you’re a real troublemaker.”

Yami no Yuugi ignored the jab. “You still wanting to go back?”

“We’re not at that bridge yet,” he growled. Ryou thought he already had come to an answer, but couldn’t admit to it. Yami no Bakura was good at ignoring Ryou.

“And when _will_ we be? When we’re standing before the gate?” the pharaoh snapped.

Yami no Bakura easily recognized it as a weak cover up, but he didn’t call the pharaoh on it. Instead, he stood up, the ring materializing over his front. “No time like the present,” he said, calling out to the realm. He distantly heard the other scowl at his choice of words. Ryou mentally wondered if it was some sort of foreshadowing, sounding amused; Yami no Bakura told him to shut the hell up.

Thick darkness, laced with clouds of violets and blues, replaced the living room. If Ryou wanted foreshadowing, he should be thinking about all the times that they’ve been to the Shadow Realm as of late, and how every one of them turned out _badly_. But Ryou didn’t seem worried much at all, which irked the thief to no end until he caved and asked _why_.

_This is the first time you’ve both gone in, planning to work willingly with one another._

It was a good point, but he wasn’t about to tell Ryou that.

They both shuffled through the realm, knowing where they were heading even though everything looked the same, and the Shadow Realm didn’t believe in road signs. The silence was stifling, so much that Yami no Yuugi was beginning to _hope_ they’d be attacked. That they _hadn’t_ yet been was a bit of a surprise.

But too soon the gate was before them.

Too soon they had to deal with whatever _this_ was.

“I don’t want you to go,” Yami no Yuugi said out of the blue, standing hesitantly behind the thief. His voice warbled, and by the expression on his face, he looked to be warring with what he was trying to say. “I know it’s selfish of a pharaoh, to want something like… that.”

“Ph –”

“No,” he cut in quickly, head snapping up and he fought to keep his show of strength in his appearance. He was taught better than this. “Wait. Just… let me speak already. Ra knows I won’t probably get to it again.” He made a small sound akin to a chuckle. “I couldn’t take it – the past. It’s where I thought I belonged, where I was destined to be, where people were waiting for me to join them. But I… couldn’t take the separation. I was alone amongst those people.” He made a fist at his side, brought it up and stared at it, slowly uncurled his fingers and just _stared_. “My home somewhere along the way became this place where I shouldn’t have been able to ever belong.”

“You can’t expect me to stay,” Yami no Bakura said, but there was no roughness in his voice.

Yami no Yuugi yelled, surprising them both, “But you want to, don’t you?!”

The thief fell silent. They both did, looking away from one another to the splotches of darkness shifting amongst the realm. Anything was better than at one another.

“I don’t understand why you would want to go back,” he continued quietly, because he needed the other to talk to him now.

“It’s time to change things up.”

“Then change things _here_! That’s not so hard!” Finally, his confidence begun to return. He stepped toward the thief, straightening, looking more himself, feeling the challenge rock between them. “If you go back, Bakura, that’s not changing things. That’s running away to familiar ground. That’s chickening out because you can’t take it. What, because you’ve finally found a point in your life where you could fit the puzzle together right, you’re going to throw in the towel? What are you _running from_?”

“Maybe I’m running from you,” he snapped.

“ _Me_? When did I become the big and terrifying beast?”

“When I started to _care_.”

Yami no Yuugi blinked, because he wasn’t sure what was going on now. They were footfalls away from the gate to the underworld where they were to try their hardest to pull Yuugi back to the present and out of the grasps of ghosts. Footfalls away and they were having a discussion of feelings, with actual truth involved. He _knew_ they weren’t just trading lies right now.

All cards were on the table now. They had to play their best strategies, because this could very well be the last game.

He wasn’t going to lose a game to Yami no Bakura _now_ of all times.

“So why choose to stop caring?” he asked the thief. “Why can’t you go against the grain? …Do you think going to Egypt is really going to make yourself _stop_? Make it _better_?”He knew from experience that it wouldn’t; it would only make things worse until it was too much, feelings and emotions crammed in close.

“Enough with the twenty questions,” Yami no Bakura growled, fists clenched at his side.

“There’s no other chance to talk about this, Bakura. Running isn’t going to help you. What’s so wrong with caring?” To his shock, Ryou stood before him, as befuddled as Yami no Yuugi was before his anger settled in place. “Dammit, Bakura! Now’s not the time to get _scared_!”

“Now’s not the time for any of this really,” Ryou sighed and leaned his head back. “I hope Yuugi is doing okay. I don’t know why my other is making such a fuss about this. I thought he already made up his mind.”

Yami no Yuugi felt cold. “He did?”

Ryou looked back at him, then quickly added, “To stay.”

“Ryou, are you _sure_?”

The boy took a moment to think about it, then nodded. “Yeah. I’m sure.”

His relief was enough to stable again. Why Yami no Bakura put up all this defense when he already made up his mind, well, they would deal with that later. For now, the most important thing was Yami no Yuugi’s other half.

“Ryou, can you get a handle on the ring’s control?”

“Um. Well, probably. Is that a good idea, though?”

Yami no Yuugi stared at him dully. “Is Bakura looking on helping any time soon?”

“No. Not really.” He paused and lifted the ring with a hand, expression thoughtful. “That’s not true, actually. I think he’ll help, just so long as he can avoid you.” He shrugged. “If you think it’ll be okay, then it’s worth a shot.”

“We have to, Ryou.”

“Okay then.” Ryou smiled. “Let’s get Yuugi back.”

 

The boys watched as people strolled by them in the park. No one paid them much mind. It wasn’t because they were glaring at anyone, or because they were battered and bruised; they were just two, young teens blending into their surroundings, quiet and exhausted.

Ryou and Yuugi didn’t say much of anything to one another. On occasion, Ryou dozed off, his head pillowed in his arms that rested on the back of the bench.

Their dark halves were just as quiet. Mission accomplished, with a large amount of magic and energy drained, but accomplished nonetheless. Yuugi was safely where he belonged, everyone’s souls still in proper order. Now only one problem remained: the quaking distance between the two spirits, one that Yuugi never thought he’d feel the pain of. One that he never thought _mattered_. In the past he could waive the pharaoh’s random trains of thought off as nothing, but now it had become overwhelming.

Finally, Yuugi slid away from the bench and stretched. “Well, I guess I should get going. Thanks, Ryou. I mean it, _really_. It’s good to be home.” He shifted awkwardly, sensing the pharaoh’s discomfort. What did he want Yuugi to do? He wasn’t capable of forcing Yami no Bakura into view. If he didn’t want to talk, then he wasn’t going to talk, end of story.

He silently apologized.

A voice followed his retreat – not Ryou’s, but gruffer. “Yuugi.”

Yuugi is drowned in surprise from both himself and the pharaoh. “What?” he asked, turning to face Yami no Bakura.

He hesitated a moment, then said, “The pharaoh – let me talk with him.”

It wasn’t as if Yuugi had been wrangling his other back. He gladly let him take control, if only so he could breathe over the mixed waves of emotion. When Yami no Yuugi was in view, he stayed silent and waited for the thief to ‘talk’ as he wanted to.

“I need you.”

Yami no Yuugi blinked.

“It’s stupid,” the thief continued, gritting his teeth and curling his hand into a fist at his side. His gaze stared out beyond Yami no Yuugi, right over his shoulder. “It’s stupid and pointless and I _despise_ it – to the point I nearly ran, because why?” He growled suddenly, russet eyes snapping to crimson. “Why _you_? You’re nothing but a wandering pharaoh. Do you even know which way is up?” He shook his head, not expecting a response; Yami no Yuugi wasn’t giving him much of anything, anyway. Schooled features of a pro. “So there you have it, Pharaoh. Your answer.” He turned away in time to hear Yami no Yuugi sigh.

“Why must you always be so difficult?”

“What was that?!” Yami no Bakura whipped back around.

Yami no Yuugi was striding towards him. “I always thought with your chosen occupation, you’d go headfirst for your goal, forget the complications. You’re just… _difficult_ , for lack of a better word.”

“Well you’re not sunshine and rainbows yourself, Pharaoh!”

“No, thank goodness,” he paused and cringed, “that’d be dreadful. I’ll leave that to Yuugi. My point is –”

“Oh, so you actually have a point?”

“ _Bakura_.” Again with the difficulties Yami no Yuugi had to deal with. “You never take the easy route. Like, for example, if you had just _told me that_ before running off to the Shadow Realm the first time, none of the mess following would have happened.” Probably.

“And how do you figure that, Pharaoh?”

Yami no Yuugi stepped in close. Far too close than was safe for them on normal circumstances – not if they wanted to get away without there being blood involved.

This wasn’t normal.

“You’re stuck with me, Bakura. For better or for worse. And _not_ because there’s no one else. Because…” he hesitated. Ask him about games and he could talk ears off about strategy with confidence; ask him about matters of the heart that had nothing to do with cards, and he was operating blindly. “Because it’s you.”

Yami no Bakura snorted. This was beginning to be too much.

“It’s true, you know,” Yami no Yuugi said, trying to catch the thief’s gaze. “We need each other I guess.” And that was as much of a confession as they could make.

“Seems like,” Yami no Bakura sighed. Ryou was mentally berating him to _do something_. Helpful, really. “Want… to go to a movie?” He cringed. He did not just say that.

But at the same time, Yami no Yuugi was saying, “Want to go to dinner?” and followed up with the same reaction, then waved at his head as if to blame Yuugi.

They laughed.

“God, let’s just get out of this damn park,” Yami no Bakura said at last. “Leave our lights to those sunshine and rainbows.” He paused, then added as an afterthought, “I could use a drink though.” He glanced to the pharaoh.

“Hm. It’s a date then, I suppose.”

“Don’t ever say that to me again.”

They talk about card games and roleplaying games, of the people that left the city and of those, like Kaiba, still there. They talk about new movies but rarely go to see them. They talk about Egypt, past and present, about how things have changed, and very occasionally about how _they’ve_ changed. They don’t talk about emotions and feelings until they’re pulling each other’s teeth through arguing and shouting, and they certainly don’t talk about how they love each other even though both Yuugi and Ryou point it out for them.

But they also don’t try to correct their lights, because they both know that it’s true.


End file.
